Police say the shooter had a firearm and wore a trench coat. She had a young child with her who was shot and is in serious condition.
On Sunday afternoon, a woman opened fire at pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston church, Lakewood, which has one of the biggest congregations in the country. Off-duty police officers shot and killed her. There was no one else dead at the church.
Houston police Chief Troy Finner said at a press conference on Sunday after the shooting that the woman, who was between the ages of 30 and 35, walked into the church at 1:53 p.m. wearing a trench coat, a backpack, and a long gun. She was with a young child who the cops said was between 4 and 5 years old.
The woman started shooting as soon as she walked into the church. The female shooter was killed at the scene by two off-duty police officers, according to the police. Meanwhile, a child was shot and is now in critical condition at Texas Children’s Hospital. Police were not sure how the kid was hurt, though. He is being treated. Another 57-year-old man who is not connected to the shooter was shot in the leg.
According to police, the shooter said she had a bomb, so they checked her car and backpack but did not find any explosives. It was still being searched in the church on Sunday afternoon. The building can hold more than 16,000 people. Police also said the shooter was shooting something they couldn’t identify, which is why they called the Houston Fire Department and hazmat units. Samuel Peña, the fire chief, said they found “nothing of concern.”
Police did not find out why the shooter did what she did or who she was. She got into the church just before the Spanish-language service at 2:00 p.m.
During the press conference, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said, “It’s unfortunate that on the day we want to go to church and watch America’s No. 1 sports event, we find ourselves gathered here to respond to this tragedy.” “We want the people of Houston to know that their first responders are watching out for them.”
Whitmire thanked the first rescuers for taking care of each other. Cops from the Houston Fire Department and two police departments from Harris County, Texas, and Houston, Texas, were there. Two Houston Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officers who were not on duty killed the killer.
Lakewood Church is about 6 miles from downtown Houston. The Houston Rockets used to play there. People come to the conservative Christian church from all over the country, both in person and online.
Teen, who is famous for his televangelism and best-selling books, told the press that he was heartbroken and “in a fog.”
Ozeen said, “We don’t know why these things happen, but we know that God is in charge.” “We are going to pray for the 5-year-old boy, the young woman who died, her family, and the other men.”
Gov. Greg Abbott said he had talked to Whitmire and offered help from the state, such as police from the Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers.
Abbott said, “Our hearts are with those affected by today’s tragic shooting and with the whole Lakewood Church community in Houston.” “Holy places of worship are holy.”
There have been several mass shootings in US places of worship in the last few years. One of these was at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in November 2017. When a shooter opened fire on churchgoers in the rural town east of San Antonio, 26 people were killed and 20 were hurt.
In December 2019, someone shot and killed two people at the White Settlement, Texas, church meeting of the West Freeway Church of Christ. A member of the church shot him and killed him right away. Because of the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas passed a rule that lets licensed handgun owners bring their guns into places of worship. Because of that rule, the White Settlement church put together a volunteer security team.
A school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, happened just a few months before the shooting in Sutherland Springs. This led Abbott to hold several meetings to find ways to stop gun violence. Leaders from across the state, school officers, and law enforcement spoke to lawmakers. Some suggested background checks for everyone and rules to keep guns away from people who “pose an immediate danger.”
But every year, lawmakers have mostly turned down bills that would make it harder to get guns. Instead, they’ve focused on making schools safer and adding more mental health services. Lawmakers filed some gun control bills when they met for the first time since the Uvalde school killing, in which an 18-year-old killed 19 students and two teachers. The great majority of those bills failed. People from Uvalde worked hard for months on a bill that would have raised the age to 21 from 18 to 21 to buy a semi-automatic weapon.
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